Huawei experiences strong sales growth despite US blacklisting

Posts: 5,682 +43

Huawei brought in $86.1 billion of revenue between January and September this year, as smartphone shipments jumped 26 percent in the first three quarters to 185 million units. All this is despite the US Commerce Department adding the company to an Entity List in May - over alleged security concerns - that prohibits US companies from doing business with the firm.

Huawei said it expected US export restrictions to reduce its annual revenue by around $10 billion, especially with Google no longer able to provide Android updates and apps for its latest phones. But it appears the company isn’t feeling the effects - yet.

“In the consumer business, Huawei’s smartphone business has grown steadily,” wrote Huawei. “The company also saw rapid growth in other new businesses like PCs, tablets, wearables, and smart audio products.”

One of the US government’s biggest issues with Huawei is the use of its equipment in 5G networks. America has previously threatened to cut intelligence ties with Germany and the UK if they use Huawei’s 5G tech, but again, this isn’t affecting its business. The company says it has signed more than 60 5G commercial contracts to date worldwide and shipped more than 400,000 5G Massive MIMO active antenna units (AAUs) to global markets.

Back in June, Huawei announced it had signed a deal with Russian telecoms firm MTS to develop fifth-generation wireless networks in the country.

While the outlook appears rosy for Huawei, its chairman, Liang Hua, has warned that even with increased phone sales, it’s "not to say we don't have difficulties ahead. We do, and they may affect the pace of our growth in the short term."

Posts: 361 +292

Increased sales, only in China. Funny about Huawei, their phones have never been implicated in spying, it's other hardware that was the problem. Anyway why even report on them in the west, their phones are now useless. Can't believe they are still for sale in Australia and at outrageous prices as dear as Samesung.

Posts: 2,374 +1,632

I don't think Huawei really cares about the U.S. market. For better or worse, the U.S. market is pretty much dominated by Apple & Samsung, with a couple other players.
I had Huawei phones from the Huawei Mate 2, 8, 9. They were excellent phones, never had any issues with them (save for any real updates). But once the trade ban went into affect, updates STOPPED for the U.S. version of the Mate 9. So, I went elsewhere.

Considering there is currently a global downswing in manufacturing and retail sales in the US are declining, the situation is more complicated than every country isolating and/or not purchasing from China, IMO.

I am not saying I support IP theft; I am saying that there has to be a better way to deal with what has arguably become a global economy than tariffs. I purchased some electronic parts for a hobby project from Digi-Key a few weeks back, and for each part manufactured in China, there was an extra line-item charge for "tariffs". Obviously, China is not paying those tariffs.

Honestly, I do not think that the solution will be easy. As I see it, humanity has to redefine its primary economic system before real progress will be made.